Day 1 Rode the Express from Fields Point to Stehekin. Paid $10 for the red bus to High Bridge. Hiked from High Bridge to Spruce Creek. Met a friend catching the bus back to Stehekin and they just got back from climbing Dark Peak. He said the bugs were about a 7 out of 10 at their camp but were held at bay with the campfire.
The trail was in good shape and the wild blueberries were ripe and plentiful. Quite a few section hikers and others coming from Stehekin. Met a couple of groups coming from Holden. The PTC part of this trip was fairly busy. About ten passed us coming from Stehekin and about fifteen were coming from Holden (on the PTC section of this trip). Mice an issue at the campsites by the river (2 campsites). One of our group stayed down there and had a mouse run over his bivy a couple of times during the night. There are about 4 tent sites upper above the river (no mice issues up there). I had a head net so no issue with bugs and the others used bug juice and had no problems.
Day 2 Hiked from Spruce Creek to Cloudy Pass. Long hike with lots of elevation gain. This part of the trail is also in great shape. There are two more campsites not listed on any maps that I could find after Glacier creek on the west side of the river and one more between Spruce and Glacier.
The high meadow below Sitting Bull Mtn was absolutely stunning with over 20 waterfalls and the Scouts were in awe! The hike up to Cloudy Pass just about killed them. There are resident deer at Cloudy pass that made a continual appearance but were not an annoyance. The pass lived up to its name. Misty rain started at about 5 am and continued throughout the next day. There is water about ¼ mile below Cloudy pass on the east side of the pass just down the trail and campsites right next to it (this is before you get to the Lyman Lake campsite). It would be worth hike the extra ¼ mile down if the wind is an issue.
Day 3 Hiked from Cloudy Pass to Lyman Lake. The new bridge across railroad creek is in, thanks to whoever built it. It is well anchored and has a cable railing. We hiked to upper Lyman for lunch but with the rain and low clouds there wasn’t much to see, and everyone was cold and wet, so we headed back without heading up to the snowfield. The trail from Lyman to Hart lake was like walking in a jungle. The foliage was so thick you could not see your feet and it went on for over two miles. The only breaks were when we broke out on the talus. The rain had stopped but the foliage was so wet that every step was like dumping a bucket of water into your shoes There is a campsite about ¾ mile above Hart lake in the trees (I didn’t see a toilet). I would suggest continuing to the one just above Hart lake (on the west side of the lake) it has many sites and a toilet with a creek right next to it. The stream crossing above Hart lake was blown out and the water was too fast to make a wet crossing. We moved a log and rocks to make something work but I doubt it will hold up much longer. The rain started again about 1:00 am and it was bucketing for about an hour. We woke up to sunny skies.
Day 4 Fast hike down to Holden, I told the boys if they wanted lunch and ice cream, they had to make it in time, so they did. The trail was clear and well maintained. Be careful in Holden, there are a few chipmunks that know who you are and as soon as you put your pack down, they are on it. There is no real safe place to put your pack and one rascal ate right through my hip belt pocket zipper rendering it useless. Thursdays are a “light lunch” day so keep that in mind if you are looking for something substantial. Lunch was $10 each (even though it was “light”). The Lentil soup was delicious. The ice cream is a bargain at a $1 per scoop and their single scoops are big. We rode the afternoon bus down to Lucerne and hiked over to refrigerator bay campsite, had a snack, dropped packs and hiked up to Domke Lake. That trail is in great shape even though it doesn’t seem to get much use. I think the F/S should open it up to camping again. The area is really come back after the old fire.
Day 5 Took the express back to Fields point.
The elevation gain from this direction is greater, but I think the PTC section is kind of boring for the 15 miles outside of Stehekin. You are mostly in the trees. The real views are from Sitting Bull Meadow to Holden. I would rather have more elevation gain and views at the end of the trip instead of quick views and then fifteen miles of tree walking.
As a side note:
The fishing about 10 miles from Stehekin looked awesome! Agnes creek flattens out for about a mile or two into some of the fishiest creek water I have seen. I didn’t have time or my flyrod. It might be worth a trip up there just to fish for a few days.
Comments